The story
- Sanskrit · derived fromसमुद्र“sea”
- Malay · derived fromSumatera
- Arabic · derived fromسُومَطْرَة
- Portuguese · borrowed fromSumatra
- English todaySumatra
From Portuguese Sumatra, from Arabic سُومَطْرَة (sūmaṭra), from Malay Sumatera, from Sanskrit समुद्र (samudra, “sea”). Mentioned in the 11th century in Sanskrit as समुद्रभूमि (samudrabhūmi, “land of Sumatra”), gradually replacing the earlier सुवर्णद्वीप (suvarṇadvīpa).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.